Friday, December 9, 2011

12/09/2011
Early this week, another one
of those “summits” on the dire economic straits of the country was in
the news — this one convened by religious and “civil society” leaders
together with a leading member of the Edsa I political crowd (who is
also a counsel of choice of the oligarchs). Archbishop Antonio Ledesma
and Christian Monsod had a three-day “summit on poverty, inequality and
social reform,” which, as expected, grumbled and griped about RP’s
impoverishment.

“Our nation,” the archbishop said, “is in an
explosive situation… Poverty is mounting, streets… are teeming with
beggars and dislocated indigenous peoples…” And this probably why the
other intoned in his keynote, “The task today is no less heroic than at
Edsa — it is liberation from the yoke of poverty that would make
democracy more meaningful to the poor… Twenty-five years after Edsa,
where are we on that promise?”

Where indeed is the country today after those Edsa coup cohorts of the US and the oligarchy took over the reins of government?

Monsod
should be the first to know. Didn’t he lawyer for what is touted as
one of the most exploitative businesses in the country? Didn’t he
preside over the dramatic deterioration of the electoral system when he,
as chairman of the Comelec (Commission on Elections), removed party
representation in the Board of Election Inspectors while allegedly
padding the voters’ list prior to the 1992 polls, which (many say)
enabled Fidel Ramos to steal victory and spawned worsening election
cheating ever since?

Heck, Monsod and his wife were even at the
forefront of Edsa II, which ousted the only Philippine president in the
past 25 years who never approved — but, in fact, vigorously disapproved —
any power or water rate increases in his attenuated two and a half year
term. And hasn’t his wife been the poster girl of globalization
economics in the country all these years?

Together, the two only embody the prevailing economic-political-corporatist system of the past 25 years under the Yellow banner.

Meanwhile,
Archbishop Ledesma, I am told, is genuinely for the poor. But the
religious “bleeding heart” rhetoric and busy “good Samaritan” activities
of these well-intentioned human beings (like the antics of running
priest, Fr. Robert Reyes) seldom translate into actionable programs that
uproot the sources of poverty and its consequent moral decline.

Even
during periods of ideological radicalization within the Roman Catholic
Church (such as the flowering of liberation theology), the geopolitics
of Rome (which has always been intricately linked with the western
oligarchy’s pre-eminence) always gets in the way. Although the Vatican
has chastised capitalism in many encyclicals of popes past, to this day,
it ultimately yields to the power of capital, especially in its
politics.
Back here, the situation is no different as the Catholic
Church still persists in harping on government corruption when, in
fact, it is the corruption of unfettered and extreme, globalized
capitalism that systematically concentrates wealth and power in fewer
and fewer hands.

The Church spearheaded the ouster of Marcos who,
in his 21 years of authoritarian government, began laying the
foundations for economic democracy in building publicly owned energy,
water, irrigation, transport, health, shelter, as well as social and
physical infrastructures.

Such publicly owned utilities are at the
heart of economic democracy, where capital from taxes, utilities
payments, and profits are plowed back for the expansion and development
of these shared assets and services. Without economic democracy as a
foundation, any political democracy can only be a farce.

Edsa I
and II reversed our budding economic democracy when these assets —
financed by past and future taxes of the people — were handed over to
the voracious profit-seeking local oligarchy and western corporatocracy,
effectively privatizing the profits while socializing the
capitalization of these privatized assets.

In the ouster of
President Joseph Estrada, the Catholic Church also fell prey to the
schemes of the foreign and local corporatist-swindlers. It must never be
forgotten that the central issue in the ouster of Erap was not jueteng,
which 10 years later is still rampant in the country. The real goal was
the massive privatization of our state assets, beginning with the power
generating plants.

The evidence is there: The singular focus of
the Edsa II regime of Gloria Arroyo was the passage of the Epira
(Electric Power Industry Reform Act) that was railroaded through the
lame duck Congress in May 2001, allegedly through the carrot of $300
million in ADB loans and millions of lobby money distributed by then and
current Speaker Sonny Belmonte. That’s why it is no longer a surprise
to hear power oligarch Erramon Aboitiz say (before the Management
Association of the Philippines) that “We considered the privatization
process as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

The oligarchs never
had it so good when they took over our nation’s cheapest and natural
energy resources (such as our hydroelectric and geothermal plants); then
hiked their production cost, making our rates “the highest in Asia”
(four times higher than Vietnam or China); then distributed such
electric power at prices that are lopsided against residential consumers
by a ratio of as much as 20:1, in favor of commercial and industrial
users (like giant malls and factories).

So, should Christian
Monsod and Archbishop Ledesma still wonder why the “The nation’s top 1
percent of… families — 185,000 — have an income equal to (that) of the
bottom 30 percent of poor families numbering 5.5 million,” or that “the
percentage of hungry families at 21.5 percent (has risen) from 15.1
percent in July?”

True, their summit may have dwelt on such issues
as Hacienda Luisita, the conditional cash transfers, or the conflict in
Mindanao. But, the simple truth is that all these will still have to
hinge on the resolution of one fundamental injustice: The socialization
of costs and the privatization of profit.

What they did to power,
they did to water, toll ways, telecoms, ad nausea. These people can
summit all they want; but they who created the problem can never be
expected to provide the solution.

In the historic city of Bucharest, the CIA tortured and interrogated
high-risk terrorists for years in a basement prison, under the nose of
roughly two million Romanians.

An investigation carried out by reporters for the Associated Press
led to the news organization revealing on Thursday that in the years
after the September 11 terror attacks, the Central Intelligence Agency
operated an underground holding center for some of the most sought after
alleged terrorists. There in a small six-cell jail, prisoners such as
al-Qaeda operative Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were beaten and detained, all
unbeknownst to the citizens of Romania or American authorities outside
of the CIA.

This revelation from the AP comes after officials have adamantly denied any such institution in the past..... MORE

Days after the Pentagon first denied and then admitted that it lost
touch with a high-tech drone aircraft, authorities in Iran are now
saying that they have the plane — and its condition is pristine.

The unmanned, robotic aircraft — a RQ170 Sentinel drone plane —
disappeared last week. American authorities quickly dismissed claims
that they lost the plane over Iran, only to later admit that the CIA was
flying a reconnaissance mission over Afghanistan when they lost touch
with the top-secret stealth drone. Soon after it was believed that
communication was cut once the plane waded through the air in Iranian
territory. American officials then claimed that satellite imagery showed
that the drone had crashed and was beyond repair.

Officials out
of Tehran, however, now say that they intercepted the craft and have it
in perfect shape. For proof, Iran television has even broadcast footage
of the craft..... MORE

Revelations about email transactions between the US State Department
and the Russian election watchdog Golos prior to Russia's parliamentary
elections threaten to bring the reset to a grinding halt.
Before a single vote was cast in the parliamentary elections, a
string of incidents indicated that foreign governments were already
exerting influence over the election process.

Golos, an
independent watchdog that has been monitoring elections in Russia for 10
years, was fined 30,000 rubles ($1,000) last week by a Moscow court for
publishing “election-related opinion polls and research” after
a deadline for publishing such material had passed (it is illegal in
Russia to publish such information five days or less before an
election).

Duma officials who petitioned to start a probe with
the prosecutor’s office argued that the NGO was funded by “foreign
organizations” hoping to influence the results of the elections.

­Watchdogs to guard the watchdogs?

The
Russian news website Life News on Friday published emails it claims
show correspondence between the US State Department and the Russian
election watchdog Golos that detail payments for work done to discredit
the results of Russia’s parliamentary vote.

­Life News reported it
has come into the possession of 60 megabytes of Golos' private online
correspondence sent and received by Golos Executive Chief Lilya
Shibanova and her deputy Grigory Melkonyants. Judging by the published
documents, the Russian election watchdog, which claimed to be an
independent entity, was actually funded by the US State Department to
advance US foreign policy objectives..... MORE

Another Filipino executed in China, OFW group calls for ‘Zero Remittance Day’ on Dec. 18
“No Filipino goes out of the country with a death wish. Our 12
million overseas Filipino workers were compelled to leave the country to
seek so-called greener pastures abroad in the absence of jobs,
livelihood and decent living conditions in the Philippines.” – Garry
Martinez, Migrante International By JANESS ANN J. ELLAOBulatlat.com
BUSTILLOS CHURCH, Manila — Shortly after noon, Vice President Jejomar
Binay confirmed the execution in China of the 35-year-old Filipino who
was sentenced to die for smuggling heroin. In front of Bustillos Church,
a stone’s throw away from Mendiola, a moment of silence was offered to
another victim of government neglect.

“I came here to extend my condolences to the family. I know how they
are feeling right now. Seeing, touching your loved one and then after a
few minutes, you see them lying down, cold and lifeless,” Basilisa
Ordinario, mother of Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, a Filipino executed in
China on March 30, told Bulatlat.com.

Ordinario said she knows how difficult it is to accept an execution
of a loved one. She broke down in the middle of the campout dubbed
“Kampuhan laban sa Krisis, Kaltas at Kahirapan” when Garry Martinez,
chairperson of Migrante International, relayed the execution of the
35-year-old OFW in China.
“They need prayers so they could gather their strength,” Ordinario said. “Our government runs under a rotten system.”

Basilisa
Ordinario, mother of Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, breaks down during the
moments of silence offered to the unidentified OFW executed in China on
Dec. 8(Photo Janess Ann J. Ellao / Bulatlat.com)

Garry Martinez, chairperson of Migrante International, said the
government should try telling the news to Mrs. Ordinario in person.
Ordinario has not received any significant help from the government
after Sally’s execution on March 30.
“The labor export policy has brought about deaths of OFWs,” Martinez
said, “Even if we die abroad, they would not speak to protect our rights
for fear of losing billions of dollars in remittances.”

Last minute efforts?
The unidentified OFW was arrested for trying to smuggle in 1.495
kilos of heroin at the Guilin International Airport in China. Last
November 28, the Philippine Consulate General in Guangzhou received a
confirmation that the Supreme People’s Court has affirmed the lower
court’s decision imposing the death sentence on the OFW. On Nov. 30, the
DFA announced that the OFW would be executed.

The DFA stressed that the Filipino was not an overseas Filipino
worker but entered China as a tourist. Consequently, on Dec. 3, the
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said the Filipino was a “veteran drug
mule,” receiving about $4,000 to $6,000 every operation..... MORE

“At this point any increase in transport fares will be rendered
insignificant amid continuing oil price increases.” – Lana Linaban,
GabrielaBy MARYA SALAMATBulatlat.com
MANILA – Filipinos are known for being optimistic and happy, but many
still cannot escape the harsh reality of increasing prices and
dwindling income. More than half of Filipino families (10.4 million)
have rated themselves as poor in the third quarter of this year, up from
last quarter’s 9.8 million families, based on a Social Weather Stations
survey. “Moderate” and “severe” hunger also reportedly worsened, as an
estimated 4.3 million families experienced having nothing to eat in the
past three months.

These only confirmed what progressive groups have been saying each
time they press the government to put an end to hikes in prices of oil
products and utilities, and for a substantial wage hike. The monthly
budget of Filipino families has been eroded through the years without a
substantial wage hike amid nonstop price hikes.

In a study released last April, independent think-tank Ibon
Foundation revealed that the current minimum wage in the National
Capital Region, where wage is relatively highest in the country, is down
to two-fifths of the estimated average family living wage (FLW) of P988
($22.976) a day. Wages have thus shrunk further from being at least
half of the average family living wage in 2001 to just two-fifths of
living wages today.

Aquino administration and price hikes, worse hunger

Instead of correcting this problem of forced belt-tightening of
Filipinos, the Aquino government has “time and again wronged the people
by failing to provide a much needed respite from scandalous increases in
prices of oil and other commodities,” said Lana Linaban,
secretary-general of women’s group Gabriela.
President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has been accused of conniving
with the oil cartel and sharing in their “greed,” to the detriment of
Filipino consumers. Aquino has also been criticized for not acting on
pricing abuses of telecommunication companies, power companies, drug
companies and schools and universities. His 2012 budget was likewise
condemned by critics as skewed against the actual needs of the people
and more in favour of paying big financial institutions and arming the
military..... MORE

“Prohibiting such activities, and branding it as “seditious,” goes
against the core principles of democracy, transparency and
accountability which are central in Aquino’s vision of a straight path
and contrary to the call of the Aquino administration for active public
participation in the governance of our country.” – UP Resident Alfredo
Pascual
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL

Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Police once again violently dispersed protesters when they
tried to march toward Chino Roces Bridge on the second day of Occupy
Mendiola, Dec. 7, Wednesday, barely three days before International
Human Rights day on Dec. 10. The progressive solons of Bayan Muna,
Kabataan Party-list, ACT Teachers Party and Gabriela Women’s Party
condemned, in the strongest possible terms, the violent dispersal of
hundreds of protesters attempting to reach Chino Roces Bridge (former
Mendiola Bridge).

“The state violence exercised by the Aquino administration against
the protesters is reminiscent of the Calibrated Pre-emptive Response
(CPR) and other human rights violations under former president Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo. It is deeply alarming and ironic that the Aquino
administration confidently inflicts violence against peaceful protesters
during the international celebration of human rights week,” the
progressive bloc said in a statement sent to Bulatlat.com.

At about 3:00 p.m the protesters who marched from Plaza Miranda were
once again prevented from reaching Mendiola. The police blocked the
protesters near Bustillos church, a few blocks away from Mendiola, and
used water cannons and truncheons to stop them. Some of the protesters
were injured and was arrested by the police. According to Anton Dulce of
Anakbayan who joined the protest, three were seriously injured and five
protesters are still being detained – three PUP students, one member of
Anakpawis and a member of Karatula cultural group – by the police at
the Western Police District.

“Who would not revolt in a country where fascism is widespread? The
police should apprehend criminals and not innocent people. The straight
path of Aquino is zigzaged. Another falsehood in the litany of his
promises,” Jing Paz, public information officer of College Editors Guild
of the Philippines (CEGP) said in text message sent to Bulatlat.com..... MORE

12/09/2011
Seventeen days to go before
Christmas. Given the squabbling from left and right of frame, here’s a
stanza of the one song combatants would perhaps do well to heed, if at
least only for the season.

I
know I can’t force people to kiss and make up, as I in my younger days
couldn’t be convinced to give up a fight. What’s additional cause for
worry is the fretting and worrying over the season’s tradition of
gift-giving. To give or not to give in this time of want, this is the
question, in the month where Santa Claus seems to be purposely hiding.
He’s nowhere to be found in the US, not in Europe, nawala na lang siyang
bigla.... MORESource: The Daily Tribune

By Gerry Baldo and Angie M. Rosales 12/09/2011
The impeachment case filed against Supreme Court (SC) Associate
Justice Mariano del Castillo is going to succeed if it has the stamp of
the House leadership given the limited time Congress has to tackle the
issue.

“If the House leadership wills it, there will be time,”
Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas said yesterday. He is the vice
chairman of the House committee on justice.

Marikina Rep. Miro
Quimbo, who is also a vice chairman of the justice panel, said the House
is left with only 10 session days before the Christmas break of which
only three are left to the justice panel to come out with a committee
report on the complaint..... MORE

The
Aquino lawyers may yet again lose their case before the Supreme Court
(SC), as the Department of Justice-Commission on Elections (DoJ-Comelec)
panel appears to have neglected publishing the rules of the panel
probing the alleged 2007 senatorial fraud, along with the speed with
which the DoJ wrapped up the preliminary investigation against former
President Gloria Arroyo.

The non-publication of the rules of the
panel investigating the alleged fraud in the 2007 elections was among
the issues raised yesterday before the SC as it resumed hearing the oral
arguments on the constitutionality of the DoJ-Comelec panel.

In
oral arguments at the high court yesterday, several justices questioned
the lack of publication of the rules of the joint preliminary
investigation of the DoJ-Comelec panel.
.... MORE

President
Aquino, despite his imprimatur on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill,
may not be able to get what he wants from his congressional allies.

According
to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, the House may not be able to grant the
President’s wish to vote on the RH bill before the House goes on a
Christmas break.

Belmonte said that the President had told to him
put the issue of the RH bill to a vote before Dec. 17 but the Speaker
said he may not be able to play Santa Claus to the President and grant
his wish because of the long list of lawmakers who want to question the
sponsors of the bill..... MORE

A
Group has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to declare with finality its
ruling originally issued last October which upheld the law synchronizing
elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with the
national elections.

In a motion for early resolution, the
Bangsamoro Solidarity Movement asked the court to turn down the motions
for reconsideration filed by veteran poll lawyer Romulo Macalintal,
former Tawi-Tawi Gov. Almarim Centi Tillah, Prof. Datu Casan Conding and
Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Laban and other petitioners seeking the
reversal of the court’s ruling.

Before the law, Republic Act 10153
was passed, the ARMM polls were supposed to take place last August. The
SC ruling also affirmed Malacañang’s authority to appoint
officers-in-charge (OICs) for the ARMM..... MORE

Citing
the pressing need at the municipal level to provide increased access to
disaster relief services, Kasangga Rep. Ted Haresco yesterday lauded
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse
Robredo for purchasing 170 fire trucks to cover the needs of about 666
municipalities throughout the country.

This would greatly boost
the capacity of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) to handle fires
throughout those municipalities which currently make do with old and
dilapidated units.

Haresco said the lack of infrastructure,
especially in the rural areas, already contributes to severely limited
access to social services, underscoring that this poses hazards to lives
of people..... MORE

The
militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) yesterday condemned the
filing of trumped-up charges against five leaders and five participants
in the Mendiola Campout protest action, saying the Aquino government is
harassing activists holding peaceful protests against unabated hunger
and poverty in the country.

The Manila Police District (MPD)
yesterday filed before the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office charges
against Vencer Crisostomo (Anakbayan chairman), Joel Maglunsod (vice
chairman of Anakpawis Party-list and KMU), three other leaders and five
participants in the Mendiola protest action.

“This is political
harassment from a president who promised us change. President Aquino
has not changed the dire economic situation in the country and he has
not changed the government’s repressive approach to protesters,” said
Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairman..... MORE